Monday, July 29, 2013

I *heart* Zip Ties

I was planning on posting last week with my Monday Made It being . . . I made it through the first day of school, but, as we all know, the first days of school are extra exhausting. I guess this Monday Made It is that I made it through the first week of school!

The first week just flew right by, and I hardly took any photos! But, I wanted to share a bit of what we have been working on. This is my first year attempting Reading Workshop. Last week my new 5th graders went through our classroom library and reorganized it by genre and type. I had to give a few mini-lessons, but they started to get the hang of it. I put some of the books back on the shelf and labeled the shelf with my label maker. I had also bought some little baskets from the Dollar Tree to hold small bundles of books. We managed to find a lot of books that could be categorized by author too!

I whipped up some simple labels and then attached them to the baskets with one of my favorite classroom tricks...zip ties! You can get a colorful bundle from Dollar Tree with two sizes included. These are PERFECT for attaching labels to baskets. I've had some on baskets for years with no sign of breaking!


Labeled book bins at the top, and student book boxes and Reader's Notebooks in the shelf. 



Some books grouped by author. Tags attached with cheap zip ties! 



Some of our series books, on the shelves, labeled. 



A close up of one of those amazing zip ties!



Another Monday Made It - a simple wooden sign. I forgot my wall is white, so I guess I need to paint it again in another color!

And of course I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics and her awesome Monday Made It Linky!


7 comments:

  1. Congrats on making it through your first week of school. I just don't know that I have it in me yet to be over the moon about going back. It's slowly starting to creep back into me...slowly!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great tip! I am working on labeling so e book boxes onThursday. :) I'll be thinking of your post :)
    ~Brandee
    Creating Lifelong Learners
    Follow me on Bloglovin'

    ReplyDelete
  3. One more use for zip ties...

    My first year teaching I had a kid who threw his desk. In 2nd grade. Every day. So, one weekend, my hubby went in with me and he zip tied all of my desks together!

    I will never forget when that kiddo came in on Monday and tried to pick up his desk to throw it... and it wouldn't budge! :)

    He screamed, "Mrs. Bainbridge! How would YOU like it if I tied YOUR desk to something?!" I love that kiddo now- he taught me all I needed to know about classroom management. But I'll never ever forget that moment!

    :)
    Christina
    *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge*

    ReplyDelete
  4. You just blew my mind! I've tried everything to keep labels on my book boxes but to no avail! Thank you for sharing=)
    Lisa L.
    TGIF- Third Grade Is Fun

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my gosh! I just love the zip tie idea! Thank you so much for sharing...I can't wait to fix up a couple of baskets in my library!

    Tina
    Flamingos and Butterflies

    ReplyDelete
  6. Zip ties are adorable! Didn't ever even cross my mind :) Good to know the DS has colored ones!

    Lauren
    The Sweetest Thing
    Follow me on Bloglovin'!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.